


The Mark

by Mesa_Boogie



Series: Nephilim Life [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Mark - Freeform, sigil, soul binding sigil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:44:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9417104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mesa_Boogie/pseuds/Mesa_Boogie
Summary: All hell breaks loose when Sam and Dean discover demon blood on baby Anna-Lucia's mouth and an odd mark on her skin that neither brother has ever seen before.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place several months (6) from the 'Nephilim' story.

Her loud cries of lonely pain reverberated throughout entire bunker and left Dean Winchester’s head throbbing like a migraine and eyes tired from getting very little sleep. He roused himself from his stripper slumber with a low groan on his lips. Her nursery room was joined to his by but a door, and he always left it open so he could hear when she needs him. She needed him now, it seemed, by the sound of her desperate cries for attention.

Castiel had been gone a whole week, without a word, having left the baby angel in his and Sam’s care. It is usually Sam who gets up and holds her, pats her back to calm her, feed her and changer her; though she is Dean’s responsibility. Sam had the more ‘fatherly’ instincts than Dean.

He could hear her gurgling cries loudly; she forced all the air from her lungs of her little body, wheezed loudly and gasped like a fish out of water. It left her voice hoarse and rash sounding.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stumbled in his boxers toward the open door like a drunk, into her play room, where she laid in her iron and silver clad crib. (safe from creatures that would mean to do her any harm, though the bunker is heavily warded). She laid on her back on her cot, wormed her body side to side and arched her back up off the blankets, while she whined loudly.

“What’s the matter, Anna?” he asked in a grumbly voice, half asleep, as he reached down and picked her up his arms and held her against his bare chest. With her left cheek pressed against his, wet and sticky (most likely with tears). Her skin, the heat that radiated from her, felt scorching, as if like with fever. She cooed lowly as he pressed a cool palm against her forehead.

“SAM!” he called out for his brother; and the younger Winchester was quick to be by Dean’s side in the room, dressed in loose plaid pajamas. He turned on the lights of the room. Together they stood there and stared down at Anna in Dean’s arm, in shock. Both felt like their hearts had stopped beating.

Her cheeks were rosier than normal, eyes were red from crying, not to mention the smeared drops of blood around her mouth and crossed her cheeks. When Dean lifted his gaze to Sam, his brother took a step back and shook his head side to side in disbelief, dumbstruck.

“He....he’s dead, Dean. I...I saw you shoot him in the head with the Colt!”

“Lets not jump to conclusions so quickly now, Sam. Lets...just get her cleaned up first.”

Together they rested her on her changing table. Sam brought over a damp wash cloth that Dean used to smooth over Anna’s porcelain fine pale skin. He cleared away the sight of blood that made him feel so at unease. Anna wormed her body side to side again as he tried his best to keep her still with one hand down against her belly. He watched as Sam leaned in with a frown etched on his face of concern.

“What’s....that?” he asked as he moved Anna’s right ear forward a little and brushed back her blond hair and revealed a mark etched in the baby girl’s skin. It was one simple mark, a circular shape with two overlapping pentagrams and what looked to be a hook.

“Fuck,” Dean cursed lowly under his breath and Anna shut her mouth, tears still streamed from the corners of her eyes. “Sorry,” he whispered to her, leaned down and kissed the tip of her cute little nose. She quieted down after a short snuffle and looked over at Sam; and kept her attention on her uncle.

“That is no mark I have ever seen in Dad’s journal,” Sam shook his head side to side slowly as his brain pondered and turned. “It’s not one Azazel had shown me durning that time. I don’t think it’s him, Dean.”

“Thank fuck it’s not him back from hell. But I have somewhere to be, Sam,” he picked up Anna, kissed the top of her head, before he handed her over to his little brother. He made his exit quick, pulled on his jacket and boots as he headed for the Impala parked in the underground garage of the bunker. He has research to do and demons to grill. That symbol that was carved into his daughter’s skin was some true sick magic.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam did not really know how to feel about his new baby niece. She had only just joined the Winchester life but six months earlier, when they had saved Cas from the harpy in Seattle and helped him and the baby to the hospital, where the learned of her parentage. Who knew angels were asexual in nature; at least the way Castiel described it in scientific words to him and Dean.

He was alone in the bunker with Anna in his arms and no idea where Dean really had to run off to, just that he was quick about it. Maybe he really did have a lead, that Dean knew something he did not. Sam sighed deeply, looked at his niece, who had fallen asleep in his arms, and he turned to walk back to his plainly decorated bedroom with her.

She was finally quiet, no more screaming, no more crying her eyes out, or making her voice harsh. Yet her cheeks stayed flushed with heat and red like cherries; yet she was calm. Most likely due to her being held by someone, instead of being alone in her crib. Sam sat down on his bed, pushed himself up against the headboard and grabbed a book off his nightstand to read as he resituated Anna as he laid on against his chest.

He could hear her soft little snores and knew she was in a deep sleep; so he continued to read his book while keeping his ears open for the sound of Dean, if he were to return.

Time passed slowly and his eyes became heavy and tired. His paused his reading material and rubbed the palms of his hands against his closed eyes as he groaned. His chest ached under the weight of Anna laying on him. He set his book aside, moved her body off of him and onto the pillow beside him. He ran his fingers through her soft golden curls; he couldn’t help the smile that pulled across his face as he ran his thumb over her right cheek. From the pictures he had seen of his mother, Mary, out of his father’s journal, Anna was almost a spitting image of her.

He understood how Dean quickly took her into his heart; beside the fact that she was his blood daughter. The fact that she looked so much like their dead mother. He scooted closer and gave her a kiss on the cheek and she cooed happily, lips pursed together and smiled at the attention.

She still felt quite warm to the touch, which had Sam a little worried. Did she really have a fever? But where could she have caught it? She had not been outside of the bunker, besides being in heaven with Cas.

He laid a hand against her forehead and received a happy sigh from his niece, as his hand was cool. He frowned in thought and pulled back from her. He was awake now. There was research that had to be done, and he was the only one to do it. It was really not Dean’s thing to do.

He slipped out of his head and rifled through some of the dresser drawers for his laptop. He returned to his desk and pushed up the screen, fingering the quickly as the computer hummed to life. If it really was a demon who bled into Anna’s mouth, what kind of demon was it?

He looked back at her as she shifted on the pillow and began to fuss once more. “Anna,” he got up from his desk, walked over and picked her up off his bed. “Shh, shh, no need to cry. Your uncle is right here. I got you,” he kissed the top of her head and took in her scent; an something else. There was the smell of sulfur, smell of charred wood, like a campfire. Demon; a strong one, not lower class. He dug out his cell phone quickly and dialed Dean’s number listed in his contacts. “Come on, pick up, Dean,” he growled lowly, teeth clenched tightly.


	3. Chapter 3

He could not believe that he forced himself to come here, of all places. It was a night club and bar, filled with all the things he had learned to hunt his entire life. When he stepped through the doors, he felt as if he had been stripped of his dignity. It took all his willpower to leave his weapons arsenal in the trunk of the Impala, Ruby’s demon knife included. He had come here for intel.

“You have no business here and we don’t serve hunters,” the bar tender glared at Dean as he stepped inside. He held a glass in one hand and a drying towel in the other. His eyes shown a jade green and with feline shaped pupils.

“Actually, I do have business here,” he answered back quickly and all eyes were on him. The rest of the night club was filled with shifters and vamps, demons and werewovles alike.

“I’m going to ask you nicely this time, to leave, hunter.”

“Well, I’m not a hunter right now. Just a customer,” he pulled out his wallet and received still a glare from the bar tender. “Come on, give me your strongest stuff and then you’re going to tell me where I can find the bastard Crowley.”

“What do you want with the king of hell?”

“I want his balls hanging from underneath my Impala,” he took his drink and threw it back quickly. It burned down his throat.

“Why don’t you just summon himself yourself?”

“Just get him here,” Dean growled as he slammed his glass back down on the bar. “He.....I need to know.”

His cell phone rang, his favorite guitar riff and he pulled it out of the pocket of his jacket and glared at the small screen before he flipped it open and answered the call. 

“What is it, Sammy?”

“It was a demon, Dean.”

“I got that much, Sammy. Now, if you could tell me exactly which demon, that would make this a whole lot easier on me,” he replied to his brother, his voice dripped with sarcasm. “How.....how is Anna?” he asked as there was a pain in his heart, thinking of his daughter.

“She fever as broke. She’s sleeping on me at the moment,” Sam spoke softly and Dean could slowly feel himself calming down also. “But Dean, there’s sulfur in the room. I could smell it...and I found traces of it around her crib.”

“I know, Sammy,” he sighed and pinched at the ridge of his nose, between his eyes, frustrated. “That’s why I’m....”

“There’s only one demon that we’ve allowed into the bunker....one demon who knows where the bunker is even located....”

“I know,” he growled now, glowering at the bar tender who would not refill his glass. “Crowley. That’s why I need to find out where he is.”

“Dean, this just doesn’t feel right....”

“I woke up to my daughter screaming, a mark on her precious skin and demon sulfur.....none of this feels right. It has never felt right. Look, I’m going to find the bastard and I’m going to slit his throat and watch his vessel bleed before I send him back to hell.” There’s silence on the other end of the line and around the entire bar. Everyone had closed their mouths and had their eyes turned to him. “Just...please....take care of Anna, Sam. Just....give her a kiss for me. This will all be over soon.” He hung up before his brother could reply to him.

“Crowley. Where can I find the limey bastard?” he has the feline shifter once more.

“Screw you, hunter.”

“Do you even know who I am?” he stood off his stool now, his palms slammed the top of the bar counter.

“Yes, a Winchester,” the creature replied with disgust and Dean felt the others in the room approached him, ready to attack.

“Yeh, a Winchester who’s out to gank the demon I know none of you liked in the first place,” he took a step back from the bar and took a look around him and eyed the exit. “Crowley, where is he?”

“Don’t know,” he shifter shrugged his shoulders. “But I’m sure you’ll find him if you follow the messy trail his hell hound leaves.”

“Growley?”

“Yeh. The over grown mutt. Unlike his sister, he doesn’t clean up his messes after he has taken down one of Crowley’s ten year deals.”

He put some money down on the counter, eyed the other creatures, before he slipped out of the bar without a blood mark on him, tooth or claw. He had a lead on where he could find Crowley. And when he got his hands on the demon, he was going to wish he never sold his soul in the first place.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam had fallen sleep on his bed, Anna was nestled against his side. The two fit together like peas in a large pod. Images flooded his dreamscape and he woke up quickly in a cold sweat. His room was dark and there was no sound of Dean’s return. He turned on his beside lamp and looked down on his baby niece. She was still asleep and he almost felt a streak of jealousy with the infant. To sleep so deeply and not having had experienced the true world outside the bunker. She was safe here with them. He brushed his fingers through her blonde hair from against her forehead.

“I wish I could some how make this all go away for you. I wish we were a more normal family. I wish you didn’t have to be...brought up in this life,” he sighed and slipped from his bed and into his attached bathroom, where he splashed his face with some cold water and looked his his reflection in the mirror. He stepped back out and checked his cell phone. No new messages from Dean. It had been several hours. He yawned widely and returned to his bed and Anna.

She did not move as the mattress dipped. She was in a deep sleep and Sam was thankful for that. She deserved it. The traumatic event with a demon and having run a high fever, she deserved some peace.

“Cas.....Castiel....if you have your ears on,” Sam sighed as he stared up at the ceiling of his room and tried to pray to the angel. “Look....your daughter....she’s in trouble. And I don’t just mean that Dean is grounding her already for liking boys,” he couldn’t help the little laugh that came out of his mouth. “No....Anna.....she.....she has a mark from a demon. If you could.....drop whatever heavenly stuff you’re doing and come down and check on your daughter.....” He paused. “Screw it.” He turned and gave her a kiss before he closed his eyes. He did not expect to see Castiel. The angel had been hit and miss since they hunted the harpy. It was hard to keep him tethered down in one place for long, without the use of torture with holy oil. Raising Anna fell on him and Dean and he for hell was going to see it done right.

Sam had fallen back to sleep and only woke when his alarm chirped loudly from his cell phone on the night stand, and Anna cried. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, reached out to his left for his cell phone and saw the angel at the foot of his bed. He felt he almost had a heart attack.  
“Cas! I prayed for you like....hours ago.”

“I was held up,” he spoke in his low monotone voice and approached the other side of the bed and picked up Anna into his arms. He was ever gentle with the infant, as if she would shatter like fine crystal in his hands. He touched two fingers against her forehead and she quieted down and stared at him with large eyes brimmed with tears.

“She had a fever....I....”

“She is better now,” Cas spoke and turned his gaze toward the younger Winchester. “She is human,” he sighed and turned and nestled the baby into his jacket.  
“Where are you going?” Sam asked, frustrated with the angel on all levels, as he slipped out of bed and took a few steps towards him. “Cas, really...you need to tell me what is going on. Heck, Dean is still out doing, God knows what, trying to figure out the situation of what happened to Anna.....I deserve to know what is going on.”

Cas brushed back Anna’s hair on her right side and looked behind her ear to the mark that marred her skin. “It’s a soul binding sigil. A strong one at that,” he traced it with one finger as he spoke. “Done by a demon.”

“We got that much from it, Cas. But do you have anything new to add? Anna’s life is at stake.”

“She had blood in her mouth?” the angel asked and turned toward Sam, looking concerned for the first time.

“Yeh, she did. Dean and I cleaned her up. We...don’t know how much she swallowed.”

Castiel approached him with Anna and shoved the infant into his arms and left in a hurry without another word. Leaving only feathers in his wake. Sam sighed and looked back down on Anna’s fine face. “He’s not one for conversation. Lets get you breakfast and see if your daddy is home yet. I’m....worried he has gotten himself into a sticky situation. Not that he can’t get out of one...Dean’s the best hunter out there. I just hope he doesn’t tango with the wrong demon along the way.”


	5. Chapter 5

Growley was Crowley’s larger hellhound. At the withers, the monster beast stood at about five feet tall. Juliet was Growley’s younger sister and smaller in size, but just as intimidating. The two hellhounds were given tasks around different cities, they helped Crowley collect on the end of ten year cross road deals while he conducted business meetings.

Dean stood at the opening of a long dark alley, the dark rimmed glasses pushed up the ridge of his nose and he saw the foul beast. He had been tracking Growley all night. The bar tender was right, Growley was sloppy. He left a trail only Dean could see with his glasses that were passed through the flames of holy oil. Dean could hear Growley had someone; there were whimpers and pleads before the hellhound went for the man’s throat.

“Yo, fido!” Dean called out and the large mutt backed up from behind a dumpster and looked at Dean with flames in its eyes and blood dripped from its open mouth. “Call your master.” Dean was struck by another idea and approached the hellhound, roping it with a special binding chain he found in one of the many boxes in the Men of Letters bunker. Growley reared back and Dean held on fast, yanked the hound back to his feet.

“Now, is that any way to treat an animal?”

Dean turned his head at the sound of Crowley’s British voice and glared at the demon. “I knew I could get you here if I only if I got hold of your mutt.”

“Here I am, Winchester. Now let my dog go,” Crowley spoke fluidly, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his blazer. Dean paused for another moment before he took the loop of rope from off the hellhound as Growley snapped at him and then ran off. “Now, down to business, eh, Squirrel?”

“We’re not chummy anymore, Crowley, so cut it with the nicknames.”

“Ooo, someone woke on the wrong side of bed.”

“Tell me you did not bleed into my daughter’s mouth,” Dean snapped and rendered the demon speechless.

“I do not know what you’re....”

“You’re the only demon who knows where the bunker is located. You’re the only demon who has ever been inside....”

“True.”

“So tell me you did not bleed into my daughter’s mouth!”

There was a long drawn out silence as Crowley took a casual step back, made sure there wasn’t a puddle and then looked back at Dean.

“Wasn’t my blood, mate.”

“Then who the hells was it!?”

“Confidential between my customer and me.”

Dean moved quickly and grabbed hold of Crowley’s tie as he pulled out Ruby’s demon killing knife and held it fast to Crowley’s neck.

“You better start talking or I jam this blade so far up under chin that I puncture that smart brain of yours and render it useless. You understand me, you dick?”

“Most certainly,” Crowley slowly raised his hands up and looked cooly at Dean. “As I told you, not my blood. But, I was indeed in your daughter’s nursery. Nice touch with the iron and silver crib. You really do care for that little nephilim, don’t you? You do know they are all sorts of wrong. Little abominations.” Dean pushed the blade a little deeper against Crowley’s skin and drew blood. “Alright, alright. Look, you’re not going to like what I have to say and I want you to promise not to jab that knife up in my skull and render this meatsuit useless.”

“Tell me,” Dean growled, teeth clenched tightly together, his brow furrowed. “Whose blood went into my daughter’s mouth? And what is that marking behind her ear?”

“Alright, lets start with the blood sigil, shall we?” Crowley spoke, his index finger raised on his right hand.

“Blood?”

“Yes, strongest magic there is. It’s not really a demonic sigil that would be in your father’s journal. It’s more along the lines of....witchcraft.”

“Rowena was in on this?” Dean growled, loosing his temper quickly.

“Of sorts.”

“What does it mean?”

“It’s a soul binding sigil.”

“Fuck!” he cursed. “What the hell?? Why is there a soul binding sigil on my daughter’s skin? Who, what demon, put you up to this, Crowley? Had to be someone who could scare the shit out of you to get you to do this for them.”

“I don’t feel obliged to answer that question.”

“Oh, you have no other choice.”

“A certain....fallen angel.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Lucifer.”

Sam lifted his head from the books he had stacked on the main table in the bunker. Anna was seated in a high chair beside him. He looked up in time to see Cas manifest himself in a gust of breeze and papers went flying. Sam was quick to catch them all and keep them in order.

“Lucifer? What about Lucifer? He’s in the cage in Hell, Cas.”

“He had outside contact with a demon. A demon that could go freely between the cage and earth.”

“And....?”

“It was Lucifer’s blood you found around Anna-Lucia’s mouth,” Cas regarded Sam with a look of approval. Sam just rubbed at his eyes. “And that mark,” he approached his daughter in her high chair and she watched him intently. He reached out to touch her hair and looked again at the mark behind her right ear. “That mark is a soul binding sigil. It is very strong black magic, used by witches.”

“A witch that has access.....no...a demon.....a demon who has access to the cage that holds Lucifer....and has knowledge of black magic. This just keeps getting more confusing, Cas. But we have to figure it out; for Anna’s sake.”

“I understand,” Cas spoke softly as he rested his hands on Anna’s head. She was still warm to the touch, but she did not burn. “My nephilim,” he whispered and leaned down, kissed the top of her golden head.

“Crowley. Crowley....he.....he has access to the cage,” the thought finally struck Sam and he pushed his chair back and stood up. “He....is also the only demon who knows the location of the bunker, who has been in the bunker and.....we scratched off the devil trap sigils,” he spoke as he bit his nails. “Dean, I have to call Dean.” He stepped away from the table and Cas. He pulled his cell phone from his jean pocket and quickly dialed for his brother. Hoping Dean wasn’t too deep into his investigation that he might have killed some innocent people. “Pick up, Dean.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Lucifer? Fucking fallen angel, the devil, the rider of the apocalypse, Lucifer? That’s whose blood was in my baby daughter’s mouth?!”

Crowley pulled out a small glass vile from one of his pockets and drops it at Dean’s feet, where it shattered. “Whoops.”

“Whoops? That’s all you can fucking say?” he turned and slammed the demon against he brick wall in the alley. “I hope to God that this isn’t some twisted demon prank on me.”

“It was Lucifer’s blood. He told me. No, he ORDERED me, to take his blood and feed it to your daughter. After all, she’s Winchester blood; the next in line.”

“Next to be....Lucifer’s vessel?”

“Ding ding ding. You are correct, Squirrel, you get a cookie.”

“Stop being so.....you....about this situation. Lucifer’s fucking blood got in my daughter’s mouth and now....now....”

“That soul binding sigil was in his blood...”

“He body belongs to him??” he took a step back and shook his head. It was all too much to process at once. He phone rang and he pointed the knife at Crowley. “No smoking out.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I much love our torture sessions. Is that Moose?”

“Sam,” he spoke gruffly as he answered the call from his little brother.  “Dean, it’s Lucifer.”

“Yeh, I learned that bit.”

“You....ummm, the mark is a blood soul binding sigil.”

“Yeh, learned that bit too.”

The line was silent.

“Sam? You still there?”

“Yeh...I just...guess you didn’t need me on this. Of course, you’ll get your information your way and I’ll get mine.....though your feathered boyfriend.”

“Cas is at the bunker?”

“Yeh, Cas is here.”

“Tell him not to move a wing,” Dean spoke before he snapped his phone shut and glared at Crowley. “I’m not finished with you, but I really need to go now....” 

“The mark is not any demonic markings that would appear in your father’s journal.”

“What is it then?” he frowned at the demon.

“Witchcraft.”

“Of course. Something from Rowena, I take it. I thought you hated her guts and she hated Lucifer more.”

“All true. But Lucifer called on her and ....Mother can’t turn down a tough man.”

“That sounds strangely sickening. How do I get it off of her?”

“I don’t think you can, Squirrel. It’s in her blood now, the bond seal seeped through her skin. You can not remove it my merely cutting away her skin at the area. It’s already inside her.”

“I’m not finished with you, Crowley, but I have to go,” he glared at the demon. He put the knife away and strolled towards the opening of the alley towards the Impala. He made his way back to the Men of Letter’s bunker as quickly and legally as he could. The threw open the door and quickly made his way down the spiraling staircase and marched up to the main table where Sam had spread out his books and other papers to research. Standing there was Cas, with his daughter in his arms. The two of them seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces; to a puzzle Dean didn’t understand. “Cas.”

“Dean,” the angel acknowledged him before he turned his back on Dean and Sam stepped towards him.

“So...you were with Crowley, weren’t you?”

“Wasn’t hard to track him down. I thought, king of hell might know something or two about our situation. I just followed the nasty trail his hellhound left behind.”

“So Crowley told you that it was Lucifer’s blood and a soul binding sigil....”

“Yeh. And it’s witchcraft.”

“Witch?”

“Yeh and it can’t be broken, for it has already seeped through her skin and bound to her soul,” he looked past Sam to Cas holding Anna. He brushed past his brother to take his daughter into his arms and kiss her warm cheeks. “I guess we....can’t help but live with this. But when time comes....we will protect her from Lucifer. I’ll protect her with with my life.”

“We all will, Dean,” Sam approached his brother’s side and Cas had moved towards them too. Still ‘team freewill’. Dean was going to teach Anna, raise her a hunter, raise her and protect her for the growing evil that lurked behind her in the dark.


End file.
